Cold Ice
by Jaal Ama Darav
Summary: A Samurai travels to a town that dropped out of contact, and makes some discoveries.


**Cold Ice**

* * *

White snow crunched under Urakaku's feet, he made his way towards Tsumetaiaisu, a town located at the base of a mountain. Twenty hours travel time from the capital of the Land of Iron.

Urakaku's shoulder-length black hair was tied in a traditional chonmage style. His thick black eyebrows had flakes of snow in them from snow carried in the wind, some had ended up in his hair. A deep scar ran down from his forehead to the right eyebrow, a painful reminder of a past sword fight. Thick, tan full body cloth covered his body to shield against the bitter cold and even colder wind. Silver Samurai armor covered most of his body.

 _Should be_ _here_ _._ The Samurai arrived at the top of the hill, and looked down to where the town was. He quickly made his way down the hill and approached the town. He neared the first building along the path.

A civilian, male, approached the Samurai. Fear written on his face. "Stay away from here, if you want to live."

Urakaku gently grabbed the man's shoulders. His face stern but showing concern. "What happened here? All Mifune and I know is the town dropped out of contact three days ago."

The man shook. "It's dreadful T...there's a man, hideous scars on his face!" He gasped, looked around franticly, and stared into the Samurai's eyes. His terrified voice dropped to a whisper. "And he claims the Samurai wronged him in the past. He came, saw we had no guards or Samurai, and took over. He told us if any word reached the Samurai, he would start taking children and imprisoning them and just let them starve. He is a monster, no one can stop him. Even a Samurai crossed this town's path, tried to stop him, and was brutality slaughtered. His body was hung up on the entrance of the Head's house as a message to all Samurai." The man's rambling stopped. He whimpered and fell backwards.

Urakaku caught him, and led him to a bench in front of the first building along the path. His voice dropped to a whisper to not attract attention. "Listen, I am Mifune's right hand man. There's a reason I was sent. I am one of the strongest Samurai out there." He helped the man sit down. "Did you see the other Samurai, anything?"

"Yes." The man looked down, trembling with fear. "Blonde hair, matching eyebrows, and black eyes. Similar armor to yours with Land of Iron insignia branded on the front."

 _No! Damn it! He was Mifune's most treasured student!_ The Samurai's face tensed, his anger raging inside. "Can you tell me anything about the man and his two bodyguards?"

"Y…yes." The man's voice quivered. "The man…he had a scar across his forehead, two down the sides of his face, and eyes of pure blackness. Wore armor and a helmet with some symbol. Bodyguards had similar clothing and scars, only somehow more hideous!"

 _Sounds like the three survivors Mifune found thirty years back._ Urakaku looked down the street towards the town center, and found no civilians. "Everyone's likely inside." He turned to face the man. "It's best if you go inside."

"Ye...yes sir." the man stood up and ran into the nearest building entrance, which was a wooden building like all the others in the town.

A piercing scream rang out. "Samurai!"

Urakaku spun around, quickly drawing his sword attached to his side via a belt. He saw two figures whose appearance matched the man's description.

The one to the right wore brown leather armor draped down the front and back of his torso, exposing his sides. His silver helmet protected the top and sides of his head, with a symbol on the front showing showing a Samurai helmet impaled with an arrow. A scar ran across his forehead down to his ears and another ran across his chin.

The one to the left had similar scars and clothing, except for one down the very center of his face which ran from the top of his forehead down to the bottom of his chin.

The guard lacking the center scar screamed and charged at Urakaku. "Die, Samurai!"

The other bolted off down another street, away from the battle.

 _Need_ _to do this quickly_ _._ Urakaku readied his sword in front of his body and charged forward.

His enemy drew closer, sword raised to slice the Samurai in half.

Urakaku, in a blur, zipped straight past the enemy. _Existence Beheading, quick and effective._

The enemy gasped in pain. A massive gash opened around his midsection. His upper half fell backward and lower half fell forward.

"Underestimate a Samurai at your own peril." Urakaku flicked the blood off his blade, and ran down the street he last saw the other bodyguard running down.

A woman's pleading screams ripped through the air. "No! Please don't take my kids!"

 _It was true!_ Urakaku turned down another street and saw a wooden door ajar. Urakaku sheathed his sword. He quickly opened the door, entered the house, and spotted the other bodyguard.

"On orders due to a Samurai's presence, I will take your children!" the bodyguard reached for the kids. "Give them to…" The man's sentence ended abruptly upon feeling a hand on his shoulder.

Urakaku, with a great heave, threw the enemy out the door. "Out you go!"

He impacted the ground and pained grunts were heard.

The woman hugged her kids. "Thank you sir."

The Samurai turned to face her. "Name's Urakaku, no need to thank. Stay inside while I deal with him." Urakaku turned around, walked out the door, and shut it behind him.

The guard staggered to his feet, his shoulder dislocated from the impact. "You bastard! That hurt!"

"Take a look in the mirror to see who the real one is." Urakaku drew his sword and infused it with chakra. "Can't tell? It's you." _Samurai Style: Absolute Inscription._

The enemy did not have time to react before the Samurai became a blur. Many slashes lanced across his torso and limbs **.**

Urakaku swung once more with his sword diagonally, striking the man down. The Samurai flicked the blood off his blade and ran off towards the town center. Upon arrival, a horrifying sight greeted him. _T…this can't b_ _e..._

Strung up between the two pillars in front of the Head's house was the slowly rotting body of a Samurai. The body's facial features and clothing matched what the man told him.

 _Mifune is going to be heartbroken._ Urakaku ran up the steps, and entered the building.

The room consisted of shiny wooden floors, pillars in the same style with decoration, and a white sliding panel which cut the room in half.

A voice was heard from behind the concealing sliding panel. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here, a Samurai."

"Come out!" Urakaku's normally calm exterior had broken, his eyes narrowed with anger, he faced the shadow behind the concealing panel.

"If that's what you want." The man opened the panel and stepped out, sword gripped in his left hand and right hand on the side of the panel. "You saw the corpse? Yours will be up on there next when I'm done with you!"-

Urakaku took a step closer, sword braced to attack or defend. "Why do this? He was Mifune's best student and could have become as strong as I am, maybe even stronger!"

"Won't matter much to a dead man, but it will give you thought when you go." The man spoke with glee. "He challenged me, almost killed my bodyguards. Took him out in a fierce fight. So I strung his corpse up as a warning to Samurai like you." The man took a step closer, sword poised to strike. The light illuminated his face.

Urakaku's eyes shot wide open. "You!" Urakaku had heard the story from Mifune. Thirty years ago, a town was raided, and experienced a deadly blizzard which killed most of the survivors via freezing to death. By the time Mifune arrived with his team, there was only three survivors. "You and your two brothers disappeared twenty years ago under mysterious circumstances."

"You Samurai never found out?" The man's face twisted into a snarl. "We were abducted by bandits who called themselves Samurai. They tortured us and left these scars on our faces." the man pointed to the scars on his face with his finger. Which were deeper than on the bodyguards. They were similar except for two more scars that ran ran along the entire length of his mouth to his ears. "They would've killed us if we didn't escape. And we swore revenge! Today is the day we get revenge!

Urakaku stared in horror. _Those monsters!_ "You mean that group that ran around terrorizing the Land of Iron twenty years ago? That same group Mifune fought and said was the only other time he came close to death? The same group that loved to torture to please themselves?"

"Yes!" The man sneered. "We took our revenge ten years ago! Tortured them to death!" The man brought up his sword to attack. "And you are next!"

"That group." Urakaku readied his sword. "Was not even part of the Samurai order. They used the name to instill fear into those they took. And sow distrust!" the Samurai took a step closer.

"Now Die!" The man charged straight at the Samurai and swing his sword downwards.

Urakaku quickly parried the blow with his blade. "Please listen to reason! They were not Samurai at all!" Urakaku counter-attacked and stabbed forward with his blade to impale the man.

The enemy dodged and swung once again with his blade. "I won't listen to you!"

Urakaku quickly sidestepped the downward swing, which impacted against his shoulder armor. "I have no choice." Urakaku quickly stabbed forward with his chakra infused sword. The blade easily slid through the center of the man's chest.

The man's sword dropped from his grasp. "H…how did you…"

"Chakra infused sword. You were finished from the start. And your leather armor is inferior to my metal plated armor." Urakaku withdrew his blade from the man's chest.

The man fell backwards to the ground, onto his back, slowly dying. "C…curse you, Samurai. May you be cursed for eternity!" Moments later, the man's chest went still.

 _That's the end of him. Need to check those stairs._ The Samurai headed towards a staircase and descended. Upon reaching the landing in the basement, he saw a torch lit passageway. _There's something here._ He ran quickly down the passageway and soon came upon a large room lined with jail cells.

The Samurai quickly headed to the nearest cell, and found it empty, and checked all the others. _Good, no rotting corpses or anyone locked here._ The Samurai looked into the last cell. Its interior was the same as the others. Gray walls; a single metal bed, and a toilet. The bars were slightly rusty from age.

 _Time to go inform the villagers that the tyrant is dead._ The Samurai sheathed his sword and headed upstairs and quickly went out the door. To his surprise, he found a small crowd outside, and the same man he saw when he first entered the village.

The man approached the Samurai. "I saw the dead bodies of the bodyguards, and someone said you went into there. I'm guessing the tyrant is dead at last."

Urakaku walked down the steps. "He's dead. But it appears you need a new leader."

"Our previous head was killed by that dreadful tyrant." The man walked back to the crowd.

Urakaku looked at the man. "Can you get the dead Samurai down? Want to break the news to Mifune before he sees the body."

The man looked at the strung up corpse. "Yes." It's terrible what that tyrant did."

"Thank you, sir. I need to get going." Urakaku headed off down the street towards the capital city of the Land of Iron.

* * *

A day later, Urakaku opened the door to Mifune's room.

Mifune, currently meditating on the floor, looked up to Urakaku. "I presume the mission is complete?"

Urakaku's face became solemn. "Yes. But I bear sad news. Your apprentice has died. The very man you and your team found thirty years ago, and disappeared twenty years ago, had turned evil. And he swore revenge against the Samurai and killed him to make an example out of him to others."

Mifune's head lowered, sadness appearing on his face.

Urakaku left the room. "I will leave you to mourn." He closed the door behind him.

* * *

Two days later, the fallen Samurai's corpse was brought to the capital, and given a proper burial.

* * *

 **Constructive criticism is appreciated. After all, I, like many other writers, wish to improve.**


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